


Storms

by nowrunalong



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Pete's World, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 21:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2522363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a storm over Norway. Yet another post-JE fic, because there can never be too many!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storms

_There’s something in the air. Something’s coming. A storm’s approaching._

Rose’s earliest memory of thunderstorms was from when she was seven: swirling storm winds had knocked down power lines at nine in the morning, plunging her classroom into darkness. While teachers frantically tried to calm her peers, many of whom had burst into tears of distress, Rose crept to the window and peered up at the sky. The initial rumble of thunder startled her, but that had been a while ago now, and she had quickly acclimatized to the noise. That she was suddenly in the dark didn’t bother her either; Rose didn’t like pitch-blackness - she slept with a nightlight - but the sky was still bright with flashes of crackling electricity. She was entranced. It wasn’t terrifying: it was beautiful. 

On Krop Tor, before they’d understood the nature of the planet they’d stumbled upon, the howling sounds and the way the sanctuary base had shook led Rose to assume that they were in the middle of some big storm. Admittedly, the thought hadn’t scared her much more than it had when she was seven. It wasn’t until Ida explained that it was, in fact, not a storm, but rather whole star systems around them being swallowed up, that Rose allowed herself to worry. Black holes, Daleks, Cybermen: those were all things that were worth being afraid of. Those were things that were never beautiful; they had nothing but the cruelest of intentions.

Now, a thousand feet above the Earth, as violent gusts buffeted their aircraft from all sides, sending Rose sprawling into the Doctor’s lap, she began - for the first time ever - to re-evaluate her previous assessments that storms weren’t fearsome or frightening. From their window, Rose watched as streaks of light seemed to rip the sky to shreds, only for them to be forced back together, the impact creating deafening claps of thunder that had Jackie clamping her hands over her ears.  
They’d rented the zeppelin in Bergen; it would have taken a couple days for Pete’s to get to them, and none of them had wanted to wait around for any period of time. Jackie was anxious to get back to Pete and Tony. Rose just wanted to keep moving - to go somewhere, anywhere, that would help her escape forced conversations and awkward silences. And the Doctor - well, Rose never really did know what he was thinking, but she was sure he didn’t fancy hanging around Bergen for much longer either.

The woman they’d paid for the rental had advised them against taking it up that day, but Jackie had insisted. Just like she’d followed Rose through the Void to make sure her daughter was safe, nothing was going to stand in the way of her return to her family.

And so they were utterly at the mercy of the elements. Rose had never been on a boat during a storm, but she imagined that it must feel similar: just like waves could capsize a ship at sea, the winds at this altitude felt so threatening that Rose wondered fleetingly if they were capable of knocking the airship right out of the sky.

The Doctor had once told her that he sensed something in the air: an approaching storm. Rose had been certain he was overreacting. But then came the battle of Canary Wharf, and Rose was ripped away from him - from that whole universe. Then came the darkness from the other side, seeping across all worlds, all universes, swallowing up stars like a hungry black hole. 

Rose shivered now, leaning back into the Doctor, and he put her arms around her. At first she thought it was to reassure her, but when she noticed the way his single heart beat fast against her back, she realized that he, too, was seeking comfort. She traced her fingers lightly up and down his arms, still not quite able to process everything that had happened in the past few hours, and that he was here, and that he wasn’t, and that they were together, and that they weren’t, and that -

_We’ll always be alright, you and me. Don’t you reckon, Doctor?_

This time it was she who was uncertain.

He kissed her hair and hugged her tighter.

Storms had come. Storms had torn them apart like they tore apart the sky around them, but they always came back together again - a clap of thunder, a desperate hug - only to be closer than ever were before. Another storm was all around them, right here, right now, and yet here they were, clinging to each other in a zeppelin over Norway in a parallel world. This storm would end. Others would undoubtedly follow it. But they’d never kept them apart before. What reason was there, now, to believe any force in existence possibly could?

_Yes._


End file.
